Rabies alert back in Kendall after a raccoon is identified — and now there’s an otter

A raccoon stretches out on a windowsill high above downtown St. Paul, Minn., on June 12, 2018. South Florida has had its own issues with raccoons after seven tested positive for rabies in the Kendall area. Evan FrostAP

A raccoon stretches out on a windowsill high above downtown St. Paul, Minn., on June 12, 2018. South Florida has had its own issues with raccoons after seven tested positive for rabies in the Kendall area. Evan FrostAP

On Wednesday, the alert was reinstated and extended to Jan. 19. The Florida Department of Health found a seventh raccoon that tested positive for rabies and the first since Sept. 17, when the sixth raccoon tested positive.

The Miami-Dade boundaries for this advisory are Southwest 152nd Street to the north, 187th Street on the south, 117th Avenue on the east and 137th Avenue to the west, near Zoo Miami.

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Zoo Miami has placed signs like these through the 740-acre South Miami-Dade park, which is dealing with a rabies scare.

Ron Magill/Zoo Miami

This is getting to be familiar territory for the health department and worried residents of the community as several extensions on the alert since July have happened because more rabid animals have turned up.

The Department of Health in Miami-Dade also confirmed that an otter tested positive for rabies in the area of Palmetto Bay — the first rabid otter identified in Miami-Dade in 2018. The otter bit a person and the animal later died, according to the health department. Four people may have been exposed and were advised to get post-exposure treatment.

A rabies alert for that incident in South Miami-Dade is now in effect until Jan. 15 with the following boundaries: Southwest 144th Street to the north, 184th Street to the south, Biscayne Bay to the east and U.S. 1 to the west.

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Miami Herald Real Time/Breaking News reporter Howard Cohen, a 2017 Media Excellence Awards winner, has covered pop music, theater, health and fitness, obituaries, municipal government and general assignment. He started his career in the Features department at the Miami Herald in 1991.